What I know about you… or thought I did
by purple.sunrise
Summary: Set in mid season 2. Hotch reviews Emily's personnel file to learn more about his new agent as he integrates her onto the team. He also hopes to gain insight in what happened the summer they were together. However by the time he is done, he is left with more questions than answers. Oneshot. 4th in Hotchniss storyline
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

 _ **What I know about you… or thought I did**_

Back in his office, Hotch sits down at his desk. His thoughts went back to Emily. He looks through the files on his desk until he finds the one he is looking for right now. The personnel file for SSA Emily Prentiss. Generally, he would generally do the review of this information before he even interviewed a potential member of the team. But that wasn't how it was going to be with this agent due to Strauss' interference.

His thoughts went back to Strauss' comment during their phone call while he was in St. Louis. Since then, Hotch had been wanting to check the skill set Prentiss brought to the team that had impressed Strauss so much. And what 'deficiencies' the team had that Strauss was referring to.

For now, Hotch was going to give Strauss the benefit of the doubt and look at his new agent's skill set with an open mind.

A half hour later, Hotch looked up stunned. He hated to admit it. He really hated to admit it but Emily had skills that would greatly enhance the efficiency of the team.

At the same time there were areas of concern.

He was going to have to consider how to integrate this new agent.

Strauss hadn't been exaggerating when she said Agent Prentiss was well educated, however Hotch already knew she was though not the extent given he hadn't spoken to her in 12 years.

The summer he had been with Emily, she was in graduate school. But it was different looking at it from his current perspective.

And on paper.

Multiple advanced degrees, as many degrees as Reid.

A PhD in sociology.

Extensive coursework on children.

An apprenticeship with a medical examiner focusing on forensics.

Additionally, she was expected to finish her latest degree in Forensic Psychology shortly.

Then there was the fact she was multilingual. As the team had already witnessed, Emily was fluent in Arabic. Given that she appeared to have mostly grown up at various diplomatic posts, it made sense. In addition to Arabic, which had been invaluable on the terrorism case, she also had listed fluency in Spanish, French, and Italian. In addition she also had a working knowledge of German, Russian and Greek. Even for someone who grew up moving around the world, it was an impressive list.

To have a profiler who is able to speak multiple languages would be invaluable. This was going to be a huge asset for the team.

No one else on the current team was even bilingual. A somewhat working knowledge with Spanish was as close as any of them came. Reid enjoyed going to see foreign films with subtitles. He had excitedly asked others on the team to come with him without success. However, he seemed to focus more on the linguistics of various languages than actually using them to communicate.

Most times, if translation was needed, they needed to rely on a translator who was not trained in behavior.

The third area that stood out for Hotch was that Emily had extensive experience working with children. Her first assignment with the FBI had been with the Crimes Against Children unit, stationed in St Louis. She had worked on a CARD team. Additionally, she had also been certified as a Child Victim Interview Expert, which Hotch knew took time and commitment. One of her recommendations for the BAU had been written by a former colleague of Hotch and Gideon, SSA Katie Cole.

Hotch knew immediately that the current team ability to interact with children was another of the deficiencies Strauss had eluded to on the phone. Although their work frequently presented them with child victims and/or witnesses, the team didn't really have a go-to expert. Strauss had mentioned this fact several times in the past. It had also been feedback from more than one police department.

Reid lacked confidence with children and only had limited success, mostly with teenage males.

Hotch, Morgan and Gideon had all, at times, interviewed children though with mixed success. When it came down to it, all were male and alpha males at that. Experience showed that, in general, traumatized children reacted better to a woman. And depending on the details of the case, being interviewed by any male, regardless of how careful they were, could be too much for a child.

Elle's experience with sex crimes had made her invaluable with teen and adult female victims but she had proven to be hopeless when it came to interviewing children.

That brought them to JJ. She was able to connect with children and teens. Her contributions in Ozona and North Mammon highlighted that. But she hadn't studied behavior and wasn't a profiler. And as she explained to him after the North Mammon case, she didn't want to take the classes or be a profiler.

The last area that stood out for Hotch was that Emily was trained in a form of questioning called a cognitive interview. It is a sensory method of questioning that was relatively new. No one on the BAU team was currently trained to conduct this method of questioning.

A discussion a few months back had Gideon doubting the usefulness of the technique. Hotch did not push it until he was able to gain more information. And the research he had found was positive, particularly in circumstances that the BAU found itself interviewing witnesses. When the next opportunity presented itself, Hotch planned to observe her conduct this type of interview.

If he found they were able to gain positive results, Hotch considered sending one or two others from the team to be trained. If Gideon objected, so be it.

Hotch needed to make sure that the team had as many options in their interview toolbox as possible. Meeting the needs of a particular case and catching UNSUBs were his objectives.

However everything he read wasn't positive for how Emily would integrate with the team. There were some legitimate concerns.

His greatest concern was that she was coming from a desk position. That could become problematic. The BAU was not the place for an unseasoned field agent. The team took the worst of the worst cases. Even his experienced field agents would sometimes find some cases too much.

This revelation meant her competencies with him and Morgan were going to be even more important. Though Hotch was relieved that all her general FBI field tests were up to date and she was certified to carry her sidearm. That showed she was at least proficient in the basics.

However, for this team, he requires more than basic proficiency for those working in the field. Hotch needed the agents on his team to be able to carry out a full range of field duties.

While consults did make up a significant part of the job, when the team travelled on an urgent case, they spent the majority of the time in the field. Just like everyone else, Emily would need to show her skills. Then Hotch could determine the best use of those skills without putting her or others into a situation she couldn't handle.

When Hotch came up to her medical and psychological clearances, he looked down at the file confused. The good news is that she was cleared by medical and psych for full duty. That was positive. But that wasn't the confusing part.

What concerned him as that she was last cleared for full duty by psych less than 18 months ago. Hotch ponders this revelation. It was unusual for someone working a desk position to need to have a clearance done by psych. There were no incidents or write ups listed that would explain why she would need an additional clearance for full duty. Checking her record in the FBI system did not yield additional information. The report written by the Bureau psychiatrist wasn't included in her record, only that the psychiatrist recommended return to full duty.

Hotch sighed and shook his head. One of the reasons he was delayed on bringing in agents to interview for the open position was he and Gideon had been working on the list of questions for them ask.

The situation with Elle had shook the whole team but especially Hotch. He had his own guilt from being the one to send her home and not having been clear with Anderson to stay when Elle was shot. Then there was her freezing during her undercover assignment. Followed by her ultimately confronting and killing their suspect.

After that she couldn't stay on the team.

He knew that. She knew that. Hell the whole team knew it.

And as much as Elle leaving the job she loved was because of her actions, Hotch still felt that he had failed her. And he didn't want that to happen again.

With the type of cases the BAU encountered and monsters the team chased, having an agent with unknown incidents that required a psych release for duty was unsettling. Not knowing if a particular situation was going to trigger a reaction.

Asking Strauss wouldn't get him anywhere. Even if she knew more, she wouldn't be able to tell him. She would tell him it wasn't a problem because psych had cleared her. But psych had cleared Elle too. And he didn't want another Elle.

Hotch moved on to reviewing the rest of her file. The background information gave him a clearer picture of the person behind the agent. It also allowed him to form a more accurate profile. But with Emily, it was a little different. Their past relationship made it a bit weird. But if she was going to be on his team, he was going to treat her as he did every other agent.

Turning back to his computer screen, Hotch started to scroll through her personnel record.

No surprises in the demographic information. He had already known her birthday. Address was in the District which could be a rough commute to Quantico every day.

Hotch sighs before he looked at what he knew to be the next section, marital status. He was shocked when he saw that she had single listed. Not divorced or widowed but single. He noticed the first day in his office that she wasn't wearing a ring. He had just assumed that it was that she wasn't currently married. Not that she never had.

The next section was equally confusing. She had no dependents. This news immediately sobered him from the small measure of satisfaction that things did not work out with the man she left him for.

Hotch was surprised that she didn't have children. A family with a husband and children was a future that Emily had mentioned several times the summer they were together.

Part of the life they had planned together.

He remembered how her eyes would dance whenever she mentioned children. He found that he had to stop himself from wondering what happened to make her change her goals.

Or maybe he never really knew the real Emily.

Hotch thought he knew what he was going to find in the next section about her family. But there were surprises there also. One of his first assignment with the FBI was doing security checks for Emily's mother, Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss, before one of her diplomatic postings overseas. It was the summer he had been with Emily. He had also met her stepfather former Undersecretary of State Edward Carmichael.

What Hotch hadn't known was that the Ambassador was the daughter of Alexander Breckinridge, who was well known in intelligence circles for his work during the Cold War. It was a name Hotch hadn't heard in many years. After he retired, he disappeared off the map with reports that he had died in the early to mid '90s.

The next line listed Emily's father. When Hotch had worked for the Ambassador, the only information he had been given is that he wasn't a security concern.

Emily had never mentioned her father. What Hotch read saddened him. Her father, Sebastian Prentiss, had been killed during a diplomatic mission in the Middle East during the summer of 1977. He had been a diplomatic expert in Arab Affairs and that was where his assignments had been concentrated. Emily would have been 6 when he died.

The section on siblings was equally as saddening. Listed there was Emily had had a brother, Benjamin. Older from looking at the dates. He had died in the spring of 1974. Emily would have been about 3. She had never mentioned a brother to him. Nor had he ever seen any pictures. It was possible, give her age when he died, that she didn't remember that much about him. Thinking about it as a profiler, these losses could explain at least part of the tense relationship that he had witnessed between Emily and the Ambassador.

Hotch looked at his screen and scrolled down to the education section. He was moderately horrified that the sheer number educational listings Emily had listed before college. Hotch himself had attended the same private school in Virginia until he was sent to military school in his teens. Emily had a mix of international schools all over the Middle East and Europe, a convent in Switzerland and private instruction before attending what he knew to be a boarding school in Virginia. It appeared she didn't attend any school for longer than a few months. Most of the time not even a full academic year. Except for the boarding school. She was there for the last two years of high school. She had graduated from high school with honors in 1989. He hadn't realized she had attended boarding school as well.

Scanning over her college records were intriguing. Georgetown for undergraduate. Earning a BA in Sociology and a BA/MA in Psychology. She earned 3 degrees in 4 years. Graduating summa cum laude.

Next was graduate school. She attended Yale University. Graduated with a MA in Criminology and a PhD in Sociology.

Now Hotch was confused. He had overheard that summer that she was transferring to Brown. If she transferred, she wouldn't have graduated from Yale. Something wasn't adding up here.

Since the FBI requires an official transcript from each institution, Hotch knew that what was in her file was accurate. He clicked on the Yale entry which he knew would show the scanned copy of her transcript.

He nervously tapped his fingers as he waited for the page to load.

When it popped onto his screen, he felt a feeling of dread. She had classes listed for the fall of 1994. And every semester after until she graduated. She never left Yale.

Then why had her stepfather's staff talked about her transfer and all the effort it took? Did she change her mind before classes started? He had wondered for years what he had done to make her leave him the way she did.

The final entry listed under education was the degree she was currently working to complete was in Forensic Psychology.

Putting the Yale confusion aside, Hotch delved into her Academy and FBI records. Based on when she attended the Academy, Emily must have started immediately after graduating from Yale. She had a great record at the Academy. All test scores were excellent.

For the BAU, Hotch was interested in her profiling courses and how she did in them. It appeared that she had taken the FBI profiling courses and had received excellent scores. Then she took the profiling classes taught by Interpol. Interpol!? What was that about?

In addition to the recommendation from Katie Cole, there were two others listed. However, he was unable to access them. 'That's strange.' The links weren't active on them as it was with Katie's. He would need to come back to it. From their phone conversation, Strauss had read them. If all else failed, he could talk to Strauss about seeing her hard copy.

When Hotch came to the section on previous addresses, he just scanned over it. Looking at the number of pages, he was relieved that he hadn't been the one who had needed to do her background check. Having done them in the past, it was tedious and time consuming though essential.

He stopped when he reached the summer of 1994. Hotch was curious about the summer they were together. When he looked it up, he was completely baffled.

She listed her parent's home for the whole summer and then her same apartment near Yale that fall. What happened with wanting to live with her fiance?

If that wasn't confusing enough, the list over the last 5 years has a lot of holes and inconsistencies with her assignments. That's unusual as well. Human Resources is generally very strict about all time being explained.

The section on previous assignments was what she had said the first day in his office. She had been assigned to various field offices in the midwest since graduating from the FBI Academy. The assignment she had just come from in Chicago was in the Capital Crimes division. Hotch pondered the list of assignments, something not sitting right with him.

The first thing that stood out was she remained stationed in… Indiana in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. That made absolutely no sense, none at all.

Hotch knew that in the fall of 2001 every government agency was scrabbling to find skilled translators in Arabic. Each agency was recalling any employee to DC who had even basic knowledge to translate the mountain of intelligence that was being collected. There was a real fear of additional attacks for weeks that everyone had been scrambling to stay ahead of. Time had been of the essence.

Emily's fluency in Arabic was clearly listed in her record. Why was she not reassigned like everyone else with even marginal knowledge? Was it a political play by the Ambassador to keep Emily out of DC? Or something else?

The question that next came to Hotch's mind was why with her education, experience and drive she had repeatedly been assigned to various field offices but only in the midwest.

With her credentials, she should have been a top contender for a position in a regional office on either coast as well as Quantico and even HQ in the District.

Katie Cole wrote one of her recommendations so obviously knew her. Why did Emily not transfer to the Baltimore Crimes Against Children office to work with Katie?

So what was the hold in the midwest? And why the change now?

When Hotch noticed she had write-ups, he quickly looked into the reports for each. Fortunately none were worrisome to him.

When Hotch noticed who her SSAIC was in Chicago, he wasn't surprised by the two write ups that were listed in her file, along with his recommendation that she NOT be considered for a position with the BAU.

Hotch had met him. He was worse than Strauss when it came to being by the book and regulations. A bureaucrat through and through. And what he had written up as 'reckless behavior' weren't even significant events. At least not as far as Hotch was concerned.

As he logged out of Emily's personnel file, Hotch looked down at the paper file in front of him and closed that as well. He put it aside to take over to Gideon's office. He sighed and sat back in his chair.

He seemed to have more questions now than when he began. He was going to need to be thoughtful about integrating her into the field, regardless of the results of her competencies. She may be working a lot of victimology with Reid for a while.

In the field, he was going to have her mostly stick with interviews, crime scenes and talking with coroners until he could get a better profile on her. Emily may have a steeper than usual learning curve in her path.

Looking forward, Hotch needed to make arrangements for Emily to have Morgan test her in hand to hand and takedown/arrest procedure.

Hotch generally handled tests for the team at the gun range and tactical maneuvers. He sighs. He is going to need to do that with her too. He can't pawn that off on someone else like he did asking JJ to review orientation paperwork with her.

Hotch had been hoping for some insight into what happened the summer they were together. But the reasons that had been given for why she left weren't reflected in her record.

The answers that he was looking for weren't here. At some point, they were going to need to talk. Working together in the field requires a level of trust and to get to that point they were going to need to clear the air.

But not today.


	2. Author's Note

As I mentioned last week, I have placed all of the oneshots on the Hotchniss storyline into one document and will continue the story there.

The new story's title is Our Unpredictable Road.


End file.
